Day 21, Had a good nights sleep in Pines Lodge. Up and at it early today. Virginia City has been recommended as a great place to visit, its 40 miles or so in the opposite direction to San Francisco which is our destination for the last two nights. We left at 8am, the drive up, over and out of Tahoe was beautiful. The roads were fine and traffic quiet till we reached Carson city limits and as usual it built up pretty quick. The Sat-nav is a god send but I still want to cause it physical harm and argue with the electronic voice when she, I, get it wrong. Shes very spiritual and assertive, stands her ground, never apologises and doesnt bite. I think every now and then I should perhaps reel it in and show her a bit more gratitude. I guess its all about relying on somebody else to be in control, alls good till they get it wrong....... The drive out of Carson was like a dream for old car enthusiasts, so many classics just lying around. Started to see a lot more billboards with The Man pointing his finger at you, telling you you need him for whatever your material need, ailment or legal quandary. The last stretch to Virginia had a 15% incline! never seen a road so steep. It winded its way up for quite a way to Our port of call. We went through Silver city and Gold hill, like wed seen before, mining was the business that gave birth to these small towns back in the heyday. When the mining stops producing the town starts dieing. We past the 15% the signs had warned us about and the road levelled as it reached Virginia City, Wow, it was like going back in time, a real cowboy town, bars, saloons, proper western adventure. We parked up and walked the boardwalk up one way and back the other. The buildings and some signage were mostly original. Instead of cowboys, ranch hands and miners wondering around it was generally tourists diving in and out of the gift shops buying whatever took their fancy. We had our picture taken, I was a cowboy and Dee a, not sure really, a hooker (saloon girl, she just corrected me) Lol, this was the first time in years wed had our picture taken in a bar, seemed odd looking at Dee with a bottle of Jack Daniels. We ventured in and out of the saloons, one of them had the world famous Suicide table Id never heard of it, hands up if you have, nope, didnt think so. So we had a look at the Virginia City famous suicide table, legend has it that the last three owners of this poker table lost everything and shot themselves, this really should be world famous, they should teach this stuff in schools. A couple of characters dressed as a miner, complete with mule and a hillbilly complete with tractor wandered around. Country and western music played here and there, then it was replaced with Little lion man, nice, reminded me of home, surely they were aware that this song had a parental advisory pinned to it? Guess they didnt care, this was after all, the Wild West. Its an interesting place, I would go as far as saying include it as part of your journey if your nearby. Its amazing how structures are torn down because theyre old and have to make way for new modern designs yet Virginia City clearly showed if you looked after something itll always be beautiful. Dee met a lovely lady in a shop called Nicky, they felt a real connection, proper in tune with each other, was lovely to see and hear. You know what its like when your just Drawn to someone or something, I hope so, its a great feeling. I forget the other ladies name who joined us in conversation. Sorry We headed back to pick up our cowboy and hooker, oops, saloon girl picture. It was funny seeing us in sepia tone with whiskey and a gun. Mrs Sat-nav decided to play a little game with me, I wasnt going to bite, okay the third time around the block I did bite, Im sure I heard her laughing, I apologised and she showed us the right way to go. San Francisco here we come, 260 miles to go. The first part took us back up, across and down through Tahoe, as we came up, over and out the other side the landscape again was breathtaking, so heavenly. The scenery stayed like this for the best part of 160 miles. We saw some of the huge helicopters flying back and forth that deliver water or fire retardant, hope everyones ok. As we approached Sacremento the bridges overhead displayed many signs and posters thanking the California firefighters for all there hard work, dont see that in the UK but you do see bed sheets with happy birthday whoever tied to the fence and roundabout at Satchell/Hamble lane, sometimes Burseldon Green even. The grass now went from green to golden, so sun scorched, the roads got busier and busier, back to 4,5 sometimes 6 lanes and 2,3 or 4 mid laners. Really have to keep your wits about you, more undertakers than over takers. Really wanted a coffee and fag break but chose to keep going, didnt want drive in the dark or hitting heavier traffic. My bladder decided otherwise and we stopped at a rest point, a couple of miles further up we could see the huge cloud of brown smoke in the East that had reached San Francisco from Yosemite, it was a real contrast to the fluffy white clouds coming in from the West coast. I realised we seemed to be North of San Francisco, I thought we were coming in from the East. I love you Sat-nav woman ! (So glad I apologised to her earlier) Shed taken us by way of the Golden Gate Bridge ! Something else of the bucket list. At first I thought this Golden gate thing aint all that, the bridge wasnt as impressive as I thought, didnt realise it was a bridge before a tunnel to the BRIDGE ! Certainly impressed, didnt remind me of the Itchen Bridge at all, I would happily pay the $6 back home if they offered the same experience, not even worth the 60p they charge. As we came down from Golden gate, San Francisco met us together with the all familiar Coca-Cola billboard. Skyscrapers to the right and thousands of cars going both ways, sorry, trying to go both ways. It took a long time to get from there to the hotel in Lombard St. Sitting in traffic, the noise, smell and impatience such is City traffic. Was funny, reminded me of our drive into LA, all the different genres of music playing in peoples vehicles. I felt a bit like Mick Dundee smiling and telling everyone Im from out of town, people didnt seem to care lol Smiling is the universal language, drivers stuck in traffic trying to get to the next destination forget this. We got to our Motel, thanked God we got a parking space and checked in. The place needed some tlc at first glance, particularly the large heavy concrete balcony wall outside our room, it was listing rather badly towards the car park below, Im sure its just the rebar holding it up, they e made an effort though, filled the crack in the floor and painted it, personally Id have taped it off and hired a dozen acrows but what do I know. I did step on the concrete floor and the whole thing was bouncy, I just love this place lol. We stepped into our room and..........Made up, lovely, clean, two queen size beds, clean bath, new decor and didnt smell of fags. Hotels, motels, any kind of room for the night with parking is at an absolute premium in San Fran, this place was $260 for two nights in a good area between Marina and Pacifica, its a good thing to be in a good district here. We unpacked had a coffee then went out to say hi to the people of San Francisco. Take care all, goodnight and God bless xxx
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 07:01:04 +0000
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